Who Really Controls Government?

This basically happens any time two people in suits pass each other in Washington, DC.

President Trump frequently talks about “draining the swamp,” and more recently has taken to using the terms, “sewer” and “cesspool” to describe the permanent political class that lives in and around Washington, DC.

This phrase conjure up visons of a stagnant and corrupt Capitol – filled with fat-cat lobbyist, and smoke-filled rooms – with all the grandiose ambition and heartless backstabbing of a TV drama. But what exactly is the Swamp?

A Jacksonian Throwback:

During the presidency of Andrew Jackson, the management of the government bureaucracy swung wildly out of control. The spoils system – by no means a practice pioneered by Jackson – did, however reach its zenith under Jackson.

Under the spoils system, government positions were given out as political favors to loyalists, or bought by rich patrons of a victorious politician. Beyond the obvious corruption of this arrangement, the spoils system also allowed a wildly incompetent and unprepared people into critical government posts. Disaster, corruption, bloat, inefficiency and mistrust were hallmarks of this system. Sound familiar?

A Modern Classic:

Fast forward nearly 100 years, to the Obama White House. America once again found itself suffering from massive bureaucratic incompetence, and a complete de-professionalization of the federal workforce. The names are all familiar to you, as are their well-documented and flagrant acts of partisanship: Valerie Jarrett, Loretta lynch, Eric holder, John Koskinen, James Comey, Gina McCarthy, Katherine Archuleta and more, the list goes on forever!

8 years of Obama’s so-called leadership, and Obama’s appointees have moved the bureaucracy back nearly one hundred years.

The Obama Buildup In The Bureaucracy:

Unlike the Jacksonian era, however, in which each new administration simply swapped out the old cronies for a fresh set of corrupt apparatchiks, these corrupt individuals stick around. Certainly, Loretta Lynch is gone, and Eric Holder is no longer in government – but the lower level managers, and lieutenants that these corrupt individuals hired and promoted still remain in the Trump government. Our nation has been inflicted with 8 years of bureaucratic buildup, in which Obama’s various agents, and partisan political operators reside.

These people are dangerous, they can derail nearly anything, simply by maliciously “following the letter of the law,” but ignoring the “intent” of the laws they are supposed to enforce, or the regulations they are supposed to operate under. And, if all else fails, they can easily sit around and collect a paycheck like it’s welfare. After all, government employees are notoriously lazy and unaccountable, and practically impossible to fire.

Now, some will tell you that the bureaucracy is professional today – and that there are strict procedures in place to make sure only competent and worthy people get in. However, federal service is far from a meritocracy…. Have you heard of diversity quotas?

Disgustingly, almost every large federal agency has a “department of diversity” or “inclusion” – which is as much proof as is needed that federal service is actively and openly ANTI-MERITOCRATIC. While these departments do honorable and necessary work to make sure those with physical disabilities can work with dignity – they now exist primarily to recruit based off the most bazaar and extreme notions of social justice, feminism, and white-guilt.

Martin Luther King Jr. would be appalled.

The Cultural Swamp:

The Swamp is more than just the bureaucrats we have talked about so far; It’s government contractors, lobbyists, slick marketing firms, and rich sycophants who live to be close to power. But what binds such an eclectic mix of individuals into a single unit that we all instantly recognize as “The Swamp”? It’s the culture.

The strange culture that pervades Washington, DC (and most major cities), is alien and strange to normal Americans. The people of the Swamp are inundated daily with Fake News, dishonest narratives and a bazaar morality that makes it acceptable and hip for them to say things like, “a transgender toddler is normal” while at the same time declaring “having a loving family is evil and racist.”

It’s A Gold Plated Swamp:

As much as the Swamp is vilified and ridiculed, don’t feel too bad for them, they are doing quite well for themselves. Rich off taxpayer money, corrupt kickbacks, and campaign dollars – the counties surrounding Washington, DC, are as rich as ever!

Of the top 20 richest counties in the United States, 10 of those counties are in and and round Washington, DC! These counties are across Norther Virginia, and Southern Maryland – where the vast majority of government employees live and work.

The median home price in these counties is over half a million dollars ($513,480), with the highest home values coming from the northern Virginia county of Falls Church City ($714,300). The median home price across the nation is a mere $181,625. Needless to say, the Swamp didn’t even blink when the Housing Crisis came through.

Median earnings across these 10 richest counties are equally stunning. According to the 2013 census, median income in the US is $52,250. However, median income across the Swamp is $90,614, with the highest incomes coming from Falls Church City, at $117,452 per year.